page_title: James River
section_title: James River Reserve Fleet
hierarchical_section_title: James River / James River Reserve Fleet
caption_attribution_description: An aerial view of some of the ships of the U.S. National Defense Reserve Fleet's (NDRF's) Ready Reserve Force tied up on the James River, Virginia (USA), on 25 September 1990.
context_page_description: The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows 348 miles to Chesapeake Bay. The river length extends to 444 miles if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. It is the longest river in Virginia. Jamestown and Williamsburg, Virginia’s first colonial capitals, and Richmond, Virginia's current capital, lie on the James River.
context_section_description: The James River is the anchorage (37.120393°N 76.646469°W) for a large portion of the National Defense Reserve Fleet, called the "James River fleet" or the "ghost fleet," consisting of "mothballed" ships, mostly merchant vessels, that can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping for the United States during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises.
  The fleet is managed by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD).  It is a different entity from the United States Navy reserve fleets, which consist largely of warships.
caption: Part of the James River Fleet
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